All weekend, riders had
complained that the Sepang
surface was in a slippery
condition. But there were no
complaints about the tyres,
and after practice all the
leading riders were unable
(or unwilling) to reveal
tyre choices. Either softer
or harder would do the
distance was the common
opinion: the former with
better grip, the second with
better endurance.
“ We must wait and see what
the temperature is like,” said
Pedrosa.
A threat of rain had cooled
things slightly when the race
began at 5pm. Even so, all
but three riders stuck with
the harder front tyre ... Elias,
Bautista and Aoyama were
the exceptions.
All but two decided that
the softer rear would be the
one. The exceptions were
Randy de Puniet ... and Marco
Simoncelli.
The play-off they chose
was to sacrifice some grip in
the earlier laps in the hope of
being stronger at the end of
one of the most gruelling GPs
on the calendar.
On-board footage from
Bautista’s bike clearly shows
Simoncelli’s rear tyre painting
a black line on the corner exit
as he opens the throttle. That
is what you would expect,
with a harder tyre in the early
laps. And wheelspin would in
turn put more weight on the
front.
For it was the front that
folded, tipping him off the
inside of the bike, before
the tyres gripped again and
sent the bike careening to its
inevitable collision.
Did Marco’s tyre
gamble go wrong?
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